wow. like beating a dead horse. at least they give start-ups hope all around the globe.

i’m speechless. i could understand packaging a key to download a ringtone or two from a full length cd, but a single? someone needs to get out of the 90’s.

I think it’s you missing the plot. There is precisely no incremental cost from releasing a “new product” like this; they aren’t trying to get with your program, they are trying to make a buck.

When a product has zero cost like this one obviously does seeing how it isn’t any different from a regular CD or single from a production perspective, the worst case scenario is that it doesn’t sell one unit and they just let it die.

If they sell just one, it’s a success. They reuse media (CD), content (songs and ringtones), and distribution channels. How do you see the recording industry missing the plot here? They aren’t on the same page as you because you’re reading “Web 2.0″ and they’re reading “Milking a Distribution Channel Monopoly for Dummies” and they are doing a fine job applying what they’re learning.

–

The Banjo Players Must Die!

not to mention, many cell phones still don’t have CD drives

@3, i agree…

sure it seems ridiculous to you techies to put a small ringtone file on a relatively large cd. but it does cost pretty much nothing to do…and you’ll be reaching a more, larger “non-tech” audience.

And I’m supposed to put a CD-ROM from Sony in my computer? I think not.

Maybe I am just an old fart but I really do not understand the appeal of having your phone play a ringtone that is just a 10-second snippet from a song. There are hundreds of default rings that work perfectly fine that don’t have the whole music copyright issue attached — and most are completely free. Why on earth would anyone want to pay for ringtones? I just don’t get it.

Yeah, releasing it as a CD, terrible idea.

But, releasing it as vinyl, now that would be genius!

This does seem like a rather worthless idea. Good luck, maybe someone will like it.

How many carriers provide phones that you can just upload new ringtones to without having to jump through a series of stupid hoops (my Samsung A900 from sprint only allows ringtones to be set by having the audio file downloaded BY THE PHONE over the wireless connection using a link received in an email/text message; it is unable to use files I put on the device using USB storage from my computer as ringtones).

thank God they are not trying to put it on a audio cassette. LOL!

There are still too many Bozos in the music business that keep on thinking its 1999. Anyone that says that there are no costs involved in this production obviously has no concept how the machine works. It will show up in next quarters report as a loss hidden in marketing expenses…….

LOVE the Idea! It is like the return of the Single (45); 2007 version.

The B-side is the Older Track.

So in a sense it is like an EP / Single Hybrid.

While every other technology is progressing, their ideas are regressing. Here is a simple workaround to convert song files to ringtones http://tinyurl.com/2ao39u

I’m gonna hold out until they release it on eight-track.

Maybe someone will like it. I’ll pass but I’m sure someone else will want to have that ringtone & single stored on CD to reuse on another device in the future.

I’m going to set my phone to vibrate, then just sing a 10-second snippet from a favourite song every time it rings - that’ll scupper their greedy money-making plans….

This is just another example of how the record industry is scrambling to make up for lost revenue from the decline of CD sales. Another stupid idea that will be canned in less than a year.

I was clueless about people buying ringtones until I started to talk to friends about it. Using AT&T for the last 4.5 yrs, I have simply been able to assign any song on my SD card as the current ringtone. These are not smartphones (nokia series 40 and some proprietary Samsung) and are both over 3yrs old. I think the issue here will be hooking a novice phone user’s phone to their PC, apparently it is too technical for many people I know (bluetooth or USB). Yes, I unlocked the nokia and bought the samsung unlocked.

Unbelievable.

So funny. I think the Clown Co, Sony BMG Music and Universal Music Group executives all play golf together or something.

In other news, the New York Times has decided to make the daily news headline, normally printed on the front page, available on real animal parchment paper, typeset by hand with a press.

The actual news article will not be part of this “skin” and must be purchased separately. The price for the parchment paper will be $11.99 each

Are they for real?? Do they think people would ever spend $7 for something like this. Weird…

its good

idiots they are, download these i will, pirated it will become.

have a cell phone i do not

How would I get the ringtone off the CD and onto my phone??? This is a retarted idea.

It may seem like a bit of a regression and seem quaint to this hyper-techno-savvy crowd, but there are a lot of people who site shop and would snap that up thinking their kids will like it. Whenever I go to Target to pick up “just a couple of things” I end up spending $100 or so on stuff (crap) I impulse buy. Many adults I know have ringtones only because their kids showed them how or did it for them. They see a CD, they understand a cd, they may make an impulse buy. I think we forget about the majority of the population very very slowly coming around to “tech”.

Can you imagine the amount of petrochemical CDs they will print before they realize this business model is doomed?

Even if a consumer buys one, it’s bound to be a once-used item. Once the song gets loaded from CD to computer to cell phone, the consumer is bound to never load it again.

Hell, in two weeks, the consumer, most likely in 16-24 age group, will be tired of the song and it will be off the radio, off MTV, off any iTunes “top” list and the CD will never be used again, left to sit in a landfill for our grand-children’s grand-children’s grand-children to deal with.

Most likely these will be marketed for Christmas impulse buying2. Cheaper than buying a full CD and still fits in the stocking.

sounds like a great way to line the best buy lineups with an easy impulse buy.

this is dumb.

Stupid idea, LOL. But good luck……..

When you say “stupid” do you mean “I would never buy this?” or “In no way will this be profitable?”

As commenters have suggested thus far, ring tones seem a fad particular to those who would not be reading this blog.

Given that anyone pays for ring tones, why not pay more? Heck, create a unique ring tone that sells for $200… then everyone will know how much money you have to throw away when your phone rings.

The real problem with this is that TelCos (Verizon in particular) kind of make it a pain in the ass to put your own files, including ringtones, on a phone. I doubt they’ll be crazy about this idea, when downloadable content is such a huge profit center for them.

Wow…. these guys have jobs writing for The Onion just waiting for them.

What about trademark issues from Pringles? I suppose it is a different category.. but these things are likely to be sold in the convenience checkout line where Pringles are sold. Maybe they made a deal where Pringles thought the comparison might work in their favor - people looking for ringtones on CDs might mistake and end up with manufactured potato chips …

Even somewhat savvy people will probably have problems transferring ringtones to their phones from CDs. If not for one of my clients - I would still had no idea how it’s done via e-mail attachment or link.
It may bring in some money, but will it be profitable… hmm…

I think the record industry is missing a trick here.

They should release this on a new media format. It doesn’t even have to be a very clever one, just something that no existing CD or DVD drive can read. This way, they can also market a line of Ringle Readers(tm) that can read this new media format.

Since it’s clear that the market craves CD singles, and also want ring tones at virtually any cost — and are willing to pay $7 for the delayed gratification of ripping it and then figuring out how to get it into their phone, then why wouldn’t those same people pay an extra $30 for a Ringle Reader(tm)? Of course, you can get Ringle Readers(tm) in colors for $40…

Why, it would be just like printing money!

To the “how do I …” question I have seen asked several times above, here is what works (well) for me.

1) Start with an MP3-ring-capable phone, using T-Mobile.
2) Use Audacity to get whatever snippet you want, export as MP3 (using LAME plugin) at appropriate monophonic bit rate. Don’t forget to amplify your snippet to the default 0dB-peak loudness.
3) Using GSM Remote (a Mac program, I think there are PC equivalents), upload ringtones to phone.
4) Select sound as ringtone on phone.

I’ve scraps of bird noises for ringtones, chunks of songs I like, Howard Dean’s famous scream, my daughter making a raspberry sound, and so on. This might work with some other carriers’ GSM phones, but I haven’t tested it.

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The ringtone doesn’t actually come on the CD. You get a code that you can use to download it to your phone from a ringtone service.

The whole idea is stupid, but at least they’ve thought through the ringtone part.

Ringtones are generally liked and purchased by people under 30. These same people generally have a higher technology IQ and would see this as more difficult than purchasing the ringtone from the phone directly.

Who is the demographic here? I could see granny buying this as a gift knowing that little Johnny likes ringtones but that would be about it.

So they want people to buy the single. Upload it to our computer (uh oh, do I have a valid license for this), then transfer it to my phone. Um yeah good luck with tha, most people hate syncing their phone with their computer or just dont do it at all.

Der… You’re an Aussie, so I’ll excuse your ignorance on this part, but this repacking of current singles with a few complimentary tracks and putting it into a sleeve with UPC labels? Been going on for a LONG time. I’ve seen these on sale at Target/Walmart since the 90’s. They’re priced at half the price of a regular CD, has maybe 4 or 5 tracks on it and is aimed towards people that just want the single (this concept is now decimated by the 99 cent iTunes track) they heard on the radio.

So your contention can be that yeah, this practice may not be the modus operandi but no way is this OUT of the norm nor is this NOT going to work. The unwashed masses LOVE single radio airplay and they LOVE ringtones, add the two together and it’s like sprinkling crack onto cigarettes.

So the perceived value the RIAA wants you to think is like this:

1 single track: $1.99 (god do they love their tiered pricing model)
3-4 complimentary tracks: $2.97-3.96 (the second tier 99 cents model)
1 ringtone: $2.99 (the actual price of a polytone ringtone that nowadays are 1 minute long or longer, making iTunes $1.98 all that much better)

Total package value: $7.95 - $8.94
Package pricing: $5.98 or $6.98

That’s a 25% MORE VALUE FOR THE BUCK!

That is how the RIAA think and had you written that part in, this article would have been more informative. But oh well, having read some of the comments in this post I just realized that maybe the average TechCrunch reader is too stupid to comprehend anything anyways.

duncan you fail the internet.

It’s what they know. The “moving units” paradigm, whether physical or, reluctantly, digital, is what’s made them rich. It’s a hard pill for them to swallow that “moving units” is dead. They would rather experiment with the “moving units” model, rather than accept that it is indeed a dead horse, and move on experimenting with new cash cows (e.g., ad-rev support)

I think the list of distributors says it all, but where’s Costco?

People barely buy cd’s as it is, why would anyone spend $7 on a single with a few tracks when you could get 6 songs and a ringtone for the same price if you actually buy your music and dont make your own ringtones from those mp3s…

I still know people that buy DVDs and CDs so this might be appealing to them…..

picture of the cat is so awesome!!

Any mp3 can be converted into a ringtone and sent to your phone, regardless of carrier or phone model at http://www.phonezoo.com.

Clearly people who read TechCrunch are not the target audience for this particular idea.

Sadly, some people still struggle with the internet and thus will be happy to have a product like this

This reminds me of the famous Pauline Kael quote, after Richard Nixon won the 1972 election 49-1:

“I can’t understand how he won; no one I know voted for him.”

Ringtone revenues are piddling and seemingly shrinking, or static.

Yes, CD sales are down, but CD sales still account for 95% of music sales.

Sure someday everything will be different. And someday we will live to be 150 years old and no one will be ugly.

Today, music companies are trying every possible way to make money. Shocking!

BTW, I agree with commenters — this actually could be a popular successful product.

@3
There are many incremental costs associated with this.
What are they paying for the CDs that don’t sell?
How much does the warehousing cost for the time it takes them to realize that Ringles are a flop?
Hiring a disposal company to shred and landfill the CDs won’t be cheap.

Extremely low incremental cost would be attainable by allowing consumers to purchase the song they want, a older song from the same artist and a ringtone online and doing with them as they please.

@43
There is nothing wrong with their “moving units” paradigm. They just need to come up with new and realistic ways of implementing it. This is partly kind of new but not realistic. Ad revenue is not the answer for everything.

Sounds like a steve Jobs idea.

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

These guys must earn so much money to be so creative…

Thanks for staying as innovative as you are and let hungry companies eat your steak.

How will the non-techie-target-group transfer the music from their CD to their phone without the help of a geek?

All of the domains are gone (www.ringle.com)…

I posted something on this a week or two ago, but I have moved since…

THE DONGLE not a freaking ringle - IS WHAT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS!

How does the dongle (or any other secure token) disrupt the digital music world? Here’s how: artists or labels put everything (music, pictures, video, messaging, ticket deals, etc.) behind a secure wall on the web, and consumers have to buy a dongle to go behind the wall. The dongle costs $5 to $25.00 per artist and it expires in one year. Once behind the wall, dinner is served. Consumers can download, interact, stream and play unfettered and unlimited – until the dongle is pulled from the USB port of the client computer. It’s beautiful; dongles could be gifted, hung from a keychain, branded, collected, shipped, shared, swapped, etc.

I have an entire post on this one…
http://www.unsprungartists.com.....ustry.html

With ideas like this, one really wonders how these companies managed to become that successful…

Seems idiotic to me… but the world is full of idiots that spend their money on ringtones from all kinds of sources.

Idiocy. Sheer idiocy.

someone said no cost? how do you figure? they have to pay the toonsmith for the right to use, the staff at their own company to make this happen: legal, bizaffairs, marketing, publicity, sales; there’s the bill for the energy to run the computers that carry the stupid ideas between the idiot exex, they have to pay for water in their coffee cups, too…
then there’s distribution: the stores don’t sell stuff for their health, ya know…
let’s not forget the cost of manufacturing: the material, energy, workers on the chain gang, their overpaid corporate wonks. In short: the idea is proof that american corporations are hiring cheap uneducated twitty labour cretins like such as friends of Miss teen usa’s friends… (sigh)

I disgree. The costs of putting music on a CD for that industry is probably very, very low given that they’ve already got much of what is needed in place to produce, and the music is already been recorded, etc., so there won’t be any of that cost involved (as with traditional CDs). It’s highly unlikely that they’d put a huge marketing and PR push into this initiative - it’s more than likely going to be something sold at check out lines for people seeking stocking stuffers, notoriously a no-brainer for companies to make money. Like your grandma, or your mom, or the other HUGE amount of the population that don’t know (or care) that you can just download ringtones. Think of this like the little bits of candy, stickers, etc. that’s already in these areas of the store now. I also highly doubt they’re going to mass produce this idea, which eliminates some of the arguments above.

I think it becomes really easy for all of us in tech to assume the rest of the population has caught on to the things we’ve caught on, and thinking otherwise is just plain ignorant. Go outside of our little world and nobody knows what Twitter is, nobody knows what TechCrunch is, even, and lots of people don’t know that others download music. That’s what the record industry knows that you apparently do not.

I don’t think it’s a great idea, really, but I bet it was super super cheap enough for them to see margins. And, really, they’re probably not banking on the “ringle” to save the industry - it’s more like making a little extra money out of what they’ve already got. I think the name is the only thing that is completely stupid in all of this.

wow, those dudes are nutz… definitely been smoken’ that bubonic chronic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6BEz87IG4Q

You forget that the people who will buy these rtones, and they will buy them, are the same people who spend 4-5 hours a day in front of MTV watching the real world, and subscribing to that lame textmsging joke scam (repeatedly)…

-A

I suspect that any attempt by the music industry to actually make money will be greeted with anger and derision. No one will be happy until the headline reads, “All music now free. Music labels agree to continue financing recordings with no financial expectations”

Hornswaggled wrote:

“Ringtones are generally liked and purchased by people under 30. These same people generally have a higher technology IQ”

They do?

People of that age mostly seem rather retarded when it comes to technology. Sure, they all use their mobile phones constantly, but few of them seem to have any idea of how technology works. What kind of a technologically-savvy person would choose to be a slave to their mobile phone, anyway? Technology is supposed to be there to help us.

Wheras people over 30 often grew up in the era when you actually had to know how a computer works to operate it, and even know a bit of programming. I’d say 30 to 50 would be the primary age-bracket for high-tech literacy.

If you could other forms of technology than just computers, it gets even worse. People in even older age brackets know how to do their own mechanical work - whether it be on a car or other mechanical/electrical item. How many 20-somethings ever do mechanical work on their car?

Heck, I have my doubts that some of these “tech savvy” youngsters could even change a lightglobe. They don’t seem to know much beyond sending an SMS message, or using Windows and perhaps Limewire or Bittorrent.

Funny, when I first heard about this I thought there was a tie-in with Pringles potato chips which would account for a splashier impact as they attempt to drive sales to these products. Unfortunately the stores must be the ones most humiliated of all as they will likely take up more space than frontline over priced CD Product (tucked) behind the DVD product.

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